


Bending Traditions

by WendigoDreaming



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Family Bonding, Gen, Post-Finale, Souther Water Tribe traditions, Years Later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 20:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2886887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WendigoDreaming/pseuds/WendigoDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra can't seem to bend Asami's betrothal necklace just right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bending Traditions

Tonraq had to grab his daughter’s hands before she metal bent the necklace in question into a twisted bit of tin. “Hold it Korra.” 

Korra twisted in his grip, grunting and sweating as she flailed around uselessly. Even if she was the avatar, he was still her father and years of raising the avatar had taught him a trick or two in incapacitating her and stopping her from getting into mischief. “Hey! Dad, let me go. I’m not done, you are going to make me ruin it.” Korra barked. 

Seriously, she almost had it just right that time! 

"Korra, Asami is going to like it no matter what it is. This water tribe metal isn’t meant to be worked like the stuff you bend back in Republic City. It’s old, Korra." Korra heard him sigh as she flexed her fingers and made the metal budge just a little more to the left. She smirked at the small victory. 

"Alright, I’m sorry." Korra loosened her hands until they flopped over and then finally let her father see she was done resisting. 

They had been at this for two hours now. Her father had been trying to help her with the betrothal necklace but since her father knew how to carve but not bend them, he had come more for the tradition rather than to be of any real help. Korra was supposed to be on the receiving end of a necklace and as such had never been taught the Southern Water Tribe way, a fact that Tonraq had come to accept after growing to understand his daughter in this new light. She was never going to receive a necklace so she might as well not shame her whole family by making a terrible one.

"You’re nervous Korra and no matter if you are carving or bending, it will be obvious in the execution." His large hands delicately picked up the disaster in question and turned it over for Korra to see as she leaned against the cool stone wall of the tribe’s work station. "Look at the lines, they look like you don’t care at all."

"Well obviously I do care!" Korra bit back as she slammed her head back with a thud against the wall, "or else I wouldn’t be making this stupid necklace." After the flare of anger died down Korra chewed on her lip and finally looked back at her father. "I didn’t mean the tradition is stupid I just-"

"I understand Korra. It’s alright to be nervous but you need to not let that be the guiding force."

Korra moved in closer to pluck the necklace from her father’s warm hands. She turned it over a few times and scowled. It was all wrong, not delicate enough for Asami but integrally weak in a few points—which was on the other hand very unbefitting of Asami. It needed to be sturdy and strong but beautiful enough to compliment her own beauty… it was a hard compromise to meet and all while still being in touch with Korra’s heritage. 

"It’s just… It’s Asami." Korra moved over towards the bench and plopped down, her father following to sit down beside her on the camel yak fur. " _Asami_ Asami.”

"And you love her." 

Korra looked up at her father. She’d never really get used to hearing him acknowledge them so freely. It had taken time, but to hear him say it made Korra grin. “Yeah, Dad, I do. A lot. I can’t really imagine being without her. She just makes me happy, and at ease and even when everything else is a mess and I can’t keep balance she just… well… balances me.”

Tonraq looked down at his daughter and then wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in against his chest. “Asami is a good person, intelligent and successful in her own right. And although I may never fully understand how your relationship works, I can’t deny I couldn’t have picked a better person to be betrothed to my daughter.”

Korra looked up and felt the tightness in her chest that meant a whole lot of feelings were about to happen. “Dad…” She said softly before tightening her fist around the necklace and burying her face against his chest.

"So just let that feeling be the guiding force. Bend while thinking about Asami and all that you love about her." His fingers found her hand and wormed the necklace free of her grip. He laid it on his outstretched palm and when Korra removed herself from his grip and stood she nodded and began to bend.

At first the shape seemed to collapse in on itself, but then almost like grey water it began to bend and take shape again.

She thought about Asami in the spirit world two years before, sipping tea with Iroh and later kissing her under the lillypad trees at dusk. The giddiness between the two of them as their knees knocked and their hands shook from excitement and the newness with every touch, kiss, and shared smile.

It was round with a diamond shaped centre and small swirls framing the diamond. It looked like Raava and the thought of having something so central to Korra laying against Asami’s pulse point made Korra grow warm.

She then thought of Asami in their apartment, ranting about business deals and Varrick’s design flaws only to collapse in Korra’s lap and pull Korra’s warm hands under her shirt demanding a massage in return for getting takeout. They’d touch and eat Narook’s while watching Bolin’s movers and then collapse in their bed together. Their legs twined together and Korra could remember the simple pleasure of being allowed to wake up next to her.[  
](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Narook%27s_Seaweed_Noodlery)

In the diamond was a small window-style cross with a small circle in the very centre. It was ready for a jewel to be inserted in.

Korra could see Asami laying naked below her as Asami kissed each of her brows and the top of her nose. She spoke softly and traced the dips of Korra’s spine lazily as she spoke about growing up in Republic City with a sadness in her eyes at every mention of her father. Asami made Korra promise to never leave her again.

The necklace sat in her father’s hand now, far more beautiful than Korra thought she was capable of.

"I want to go out tomorrow and find some of the blue arctic stone with Naga, if that’s alright? I think I’m going to cut a bit for it and maybe I’ll bend some of the metal from Sato industries into some sort of segmented ribbon. I can’t really imagine Asami wearing a choker." The design was finally coming together now. 

Her father stared down at the newly bended pendent in his hand, impressed. His daughter had done better than most, if not all, of the Southern Water Tribe men. Perhaps it was misplaced to limit it to the men only. “That sounds like a nice idea Korra and it already looks good.”

"I guess you give good advice after all. Now if only I can remember it when I actually give it to her." Korra laughed awkwardly and nervously at the mere thought of that. This was pretty much marriage and while they were public back in Republic City, and there weren’t any real issues this long into the relationship… it was still worrisome to think about the media coverage—but even more worrisome to think of what would happen if Asami said no. She could still say no after all.

Tonraq stood up and closed the distance towards Korra and laid the necklace inside her hand. He folded it up and then leaned in to kiss her forehead like she was still the small, chubby child he used to wrangle and tuck into bed. She wasn’t a child any longer, she was a woman in all senses of the word. “She’ll say yes.” 

A wet heat touched the corners of Korra’s eyes. “Thanks Dad.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still not over the finale. I'm hoping this helps some! 
> 
> As a queer woman, Korrasami has been incredibly heartwarming and inspirational as far as media representation goes. I am so happy that they are canon and after filling a prompt for "Korra making Asami's betrothal necklace", I thought I should share it with all of you. I wanted to have the focus be on Tonraq and Korra's relationship because the idea of Korra being accepted by her family is important. :)
> 
> Note: The necklace is based off of Cheppo's (http://cheppo.tumblr.com/) design.


End file.
